The Hollies - Sorry Suzanne (1972)

The Hollies have always been one of my favourite bands, with classic singles like 'Bus Stop', 'On A Carousel', 'King Midas In Reverse' and 'Carrie Anne', but I've always thought that they produced some of their best work between 1969 and 1974. Singles such as 'Sorry Suzanne', 'Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress', 'The Air That I Breathe', and 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother' are among the very best of 70's pop music, and I was amazed to discover recently that 'He Ain't Heavy...' never appeared on a UK album. It prompted me to investigate how many other songs of theirs from the period were tucked away on b-sides or languishing in the vaults, and it was way more than I first thought. This era was a turbulent one for the group, and after Graham Nash was replaced in January 1969 by Terry Sylvester, the band turned to outside writers for their single A-sides, and scored four consecutive UK Top 20 hits, including the Geoff Stephens/Tony Macaulay song 'Sorry Suzanne' and 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother', written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell, and featuring Elton John on piano. Elton also helped out on their next single 'I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top', and the hits continued with 'Gasoline Alley Bred' (written by Cook/Greenaway/Macaulay), and Allan Clarke's hard-edged rocker 'Hey Willy'. Like Graham Nash before him, frontman Allan Clarke was growing frustrated with the band, and after clashing with producer Ron Richards over material, he was eager to leave the group and cut a solo album. After the release of the 1971 album 'Distant Light', which concluded the band's EMI/Parlophone contract in the UK, Clarke left the Hollies in December, a move which surprised both the band's fans and the public in general. Swedish singer Mikael Rickfors, formerly of the group Bamboo, was quickly recruited by the rest of the band, and sang lead on their first Polydor single 'The Baby', and while it didn't fare as well as those earlier releases, it wasn't actually that bad a song. By taking the six stand-alone singles released between 1969 and 1972, and adding in the b-sides and a few out-takes, there's enough material to make up a superb album, which could easily have been released as a mopping-up exercise in 1972, and with all those singles on here it's almost a greatest hits collection. 

Track listing

01 Sorry Suzanne (single 1969)

02 Not That Way At All (b-side of 'Sorry Suzanne')     

03 He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (single 1969)

04 Cos You Like To Love Me (b-side of 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother' reissue 1973)

05 Sign Of The Times (previously unreleased)

06 Eleanor's Castle (previously unreleased)

07 I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top (single 1969)

08 Mad Professor Blyth (b-side of 'I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top')

09 Gasoline Alley Bred (single 1970)

10 Dandelion Wine (b-side of 'Gasoline Alley Bred')

11 Hey Willie (single 1971)

12 Row The Boat Together (b-side of 'Hey Willie') 

13 Indian Girl (side of 'Magic Touch Woman' 1972)

14 The Baby (single 1972)

15 Oh Granny (b-side of 'The Baby')